The present invention relates to methods and devices for obtaining specimens from which it is possible to derive important information with respect to the source of the specimen, as well as to methods and devices for signalling when a specimen-collecting device should be removed.
As is well known, in order to obtain information-giving specimens from sources among which are parts of human beings or other animals, it is customary to situate at the source of the specimen a collecting device such as a suitable absorbent material. Thus, it is customary to use for such purposes porous bodies, cotton wadding, or the like. It is customary to obtain the specimen in different ways such as by wiping a swab across an area where a specimen is situated or by leaving at the location of the source of the specimen an absorbent medium which thereafter is removed with the specimen contained therein. At this stage it is necessary to remove the specimen from the device used to collect the same at the source of the specimen. For this purpose the collecting material may be squeezed so as to express a specimen therefrom, and the specimen extracted in this way may then be suitably analyzed, or the medium which has collected the specimen may be wiped across a microscope slide, for example, to provide on the slide a smear which is treated and examined in a known way to analyze the same.
Various problems are encountered with the above conventional devices and procedures. Thus, one of the most serious drawbacks encountered with conventional devices and procedures as set forth above is that only part of the collected specimen is utilized for analysis. Thus, when squeezing the specimen from the collecting device or when wiping the device across a slide, or a growth medium such as an agar dish, only part of the collected specimen is available for analysis while the remainder thereof remains in the collecting device. Very often it is precisely this remaining portion which is still contained by the collecting device which is of critical importance and which has the desired information whereas the part of the collected specimen which is used for analysis does not give the desired information.
Moreover, when utilizing that type of collecting device which remains at the source of the specimen, whether the specimen is to be used for analysis or is simply to be collected, it is at the present time difficult for a human being or observer to know when the collecting device has received the specimen to such an extent that it is desirable to remove the device. For example in connection with menstrual flow, whether the collected material is to be used for analysis or simply is to be collected and discarded, it is necessary for the female wearing a sanitary napkin or carrying a tampon to guess when the collecting device is to be removed so as to prevent undesirable staining of undergarments or other undesirable results.